I Dare You To Love Me
by Captain Insaneway
Summary: Oneshot inspired by Imagine Me & You. Short and written on a whim with no planning.


She has never looked so beautiful as she does in this moment. Even from behind; the delicate ripple of her pale shoulderblades, the glimmer of metal studding her back, her curves swathed in ivory silk. Her hair is up, held in place with crystal-tipped pins, though a few wheaten locks have escaped the hold to fall into perfect curls. She turns her head and a smile curves her full lips, her blue eyes electric behind a glaze of happy tears. Behind the veil, she glows and her eyes meet yours. Nobody else in the world exists besides you and her. She is everything. Her slim hands hold a bouqet of dew-studded white lillies.  
_I dare you to love me.  
_They'd told her lillies were a funeral flower, to choose something else, but Seven had been adamant. She wanted lillies. As you walk toward her, breath stilled in your chest, you notice a tear run a glistening track down her porcelain cheek. She smiles and turns to face you as you meet her, taking her hand in yours and turning to the chaplain. His words are a nonsensical buzzing, because nothing exists to you beyond her. You can't keep your eyes from each other; the idea of parting even for a second seems unbearable. You repeat his words to her when instructed, your voice rippling with emotion.  
When he grants you permission to kiss your bride, she sweeps you up into her arms and kisses you, holding you as though you weigh nothing.  
You can hear the cheering dimly in the background.

"I love you, Kathryn Elizabeth Janeway," she whispers into your ear as you dance, her arm around your waist.  
"I love you too, Seven Janeway," you reply, the smile you've worn all day growing as she laughs and leans her forehead on yours. She's all ivory and gold, as soft in your arms as if she were nothing but a dream. As though she could vanish at any second.  
Later, when everybody else is dancing drunkenly in the moonlight, you take refuge in the Captain's quarters. She slips out of her dress and undresses you, pinning you down and smothering you with kisses.  
The world spins for you, she quivers. Every kiss is a searing burn, her fingernails branding you as hers. She cries your name and falls back into the pillows, breathing heavily and professing her love for you in whispers. Her skin smells of lillies.  
_I dare you to love me.  
_She is lost to the world; sleep takes her swiftly. You stay awake for a long while, playing with her hair, touching her face. You smile as her wedding rings glints in the evening light when she clenches her fist on the pillow in her sleep, her brow creasing as she pouts in slumbering confusion.  
"I love you,"  
It's a whisper. It strikes her and she smiles, drawing closer to you like a moth to the dangerous glow of a flame. Sleep consumes you and your thoughts dissolve into dreaming memory.

You had sworn off romance, imposed-celibacy upon yourself. Seven had grown with you. Blossomed into a human. Developed feelings. Feelings for her Captain, forbidden feelings. You couldn't rebuff her because you felt the same way. She had fallen into your arms and you broke the rules. You deflowered her and left her to wilt, citing Starfleet's rules rather than your own fear of love as your reason for abandoning her. She had wept bitterly, the first time she understood true, heartwrenching sadness.  
But she did not give in. She seized you at every opportunity, in passing, on the bridge, in your quarters and whispered a simple command.  
_I dare you to love me.  
_You dared, and now you were wed. She was yours. The fear was gone, because loving Seven was the most perfect thing you could do. It was pure, it was right and it was daring. Everything works out in the end. Storybook.

As she looked you full in the face, her gaze dulling as the collapsed beam slowly crushed the life from her, voic fading.  
"I am damaged."  
"I'll get you out, just hold on sweetheart," your words were a desperate pleading with the Gods.  
"I love you."  
She turned to smoke in your hands. Terror seized you. She was limp. Somehow, you found the strength to shift the beam, to haul her out and pull her to your breast, sobs trembling through you like thunder.  
You whispered over and over.  
_I dare you to love me.  
__I dare you to live._

When the others got to you, her heart had been still for hours. You were covered in her blood.  
You begged the Doctor to try and bring her back. He tried, to no avail, but still you stood over him, pacing as he tried every available resuscitation technique.  
"I dared you," you told her lifeless form, voice a little too loud. "You can't back down from a dare."  
As you slumped onto her, weeping bitterly, you felt a hand brush your cheek. Barely daring to hope, you looked up. She had come back.  
She came back for you.

They nursed her back to health. Over time, she learned how to walk again. She stayed closer to your side than ever. You proposed to her and she said yes, instantly, as though she'd been bursting to answer the question since the moment she'd laid eyes on you. In truth, that was probably the case.  
And here she was. As the sound of her voice filtered into your dream, wakefulness took you and you arose. She you up and opened her mouth to speak, before dissolving into a nervous laugh. Composing herself at the sight of your baffled expression, she cleared her throat and placed a hand on her abdomen.  
"I want to have a baby."  
"Seven, are you sure we're ready for that kind of-"  
"I dare you."


End file.
